Goodbye, Hello

05 GOODBYE

TWO WEEKS AFTER THE MOST
AWKWARD DINNER TO HAPPEN
SINCE THE DIVORCE TALK
Warsaw, Poland
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When Mari moves through their two bedroom townhouse amidst the bustling people of Warsaw, it feels like she is in a hollow castle surrounded by flowers.

She realizes today that they are the only two people in the entire world that know what will unravel within the next few months. No one that walks outside of their open windows has a clue what happens behind doors better left closed; their neighbours do not, nor do their friends and family. As far as anyone is concerned, the only notable event is their fast-approaching ten year anniversary.

And that makes it all the more venomous, because how wretched is it to leave on a perfect year like year ten. Their first and only decade spent together.

It is clear to Mari that yes, not a soul has a clue they're planning their divorce, because ever since last night she's received a slew of good wishes for their 'honeymoon.' Her friends have unintentionally said everything they can to make her chest tighten, it seems.

Some even joked about kids; they said you're not getting any younger!

Even if she swore she was, they were right. Even if time had always seemed to move backwards with him. She has felt as though she were eighteen since the day she met Wakatoshi, and only recently has that changed.

She hears his footsteps on the floorboards in places she knows creak, upstairs in the doorway to the bathroom where wood turns into tile. He moves over the loose board, he stills, and continues down the hallway again. The familiarity of the house lingers even when it's occupants seem vacant.
When Wakatoshi comes downstairs again to begin to move their (very minimal) total of three suitcases and a duffle bag or two into the car, he doesn't speak to Marigold and she doesn't speak to him. It seems like an unspoken truce, but rather it is a tragic curse.

He walks along a line that doesn't exist and doesn't come close to her, instead making a beeline for the door and nothing else. She watches as he lifts these things with ease, even if she said she would help with her fair share of the tiny bits of luggage they have. Yet she supposed it's for the best that they stayed apart during this time, it is best that the waters stay calm before they leave.

Besides; they feel the rifts in the floors of their home and it resembles something like history-the day Pangaea began to break apart seems like nothing compared to this house. They are okay with being silent for now.

Maybe a quiet house is better than a pitiful one, those words are not always synonymous.

Mari's phone buzzes on the table, and she doesn't bother to flip it over. She will scream if she sees another unintentional condolences card, she is sure. She would much rather stare at the map with red-drawn line trailing through the West Coast, the routes they'll be driving on. Think about how it might be okay for a little while, and how they will just be passive acquaintances this coming August.

Five minutes of silence and Wakatoshi is in the house again, nodding toward the door when she looks up. "Everything is in the car."

The two rings in the kitchen catch her eye from a spot she can't even see, her back turned to the counter. "Great. You know I could've helped load the trunk, though."

"But you didn't have to." He reaffirms.

"Not when you're here, huh?"

"No."